Are you tired of reading about the ups and downs of educational reform in the state of Arkansas? Okay, so maybe it's mostly downs.

One week it's this. The next it's that. Keeping in step with the topic is as challenging as navigating downtown Russellville during a lunch hour peppered with trains.

Well, whether you've had enough or not, we all need to buckle up, get comfortable and prepare for what seems to be a never-ending epic.

The Arkansas State Supreme Court voted 4-3 to reopen the Lake View school funding case Thursday and to reappoint special masters to evaluate the Legislature's educational decisions during the last regular session. The special masters will report to the court by Sept. 1.

After the court's first round with Lake View in 2002, it ruled that the Arkansas public school system was unconstitutional and should be reformed to be adequate and equal.

Seven-hundred million dollars later, the amount the Legislature added in educational spending since the landmark 2002 decision, the state finds itself on the ropes as Attorney General Mike Beebe will certainly defend the state's actions.

We know the task at hand is a daunting one. We also understand the court's marching orders of making every school adequate and equal is so broad and expansive that we might not ever see the end to educational reform in Arkansas.

The precedent has been set. It will be difficult to keep education from entering and reentering the courtroom from here on out.

The true cost of this lingering educational shadow is something very few are talking about.

The more time our Legislature, special masters and state Supreme Court spend on ironing out education, the less time they have to conduct state business as usual.

Education has already dominated the Legislature for more than one session.

Don't take us the wrong way. We acknowledge public education to be crucial to our state. However, we support solving problems the first time.

Educational reform needs a true leader or group of leaders to put the chalk on the board and solve this equation so, as a state, we can move on to other issues.